Why Does Jesus Address Mary as “Woman?”

In the Second Chapter of John’s Gospel we read about the Wedding Feast at Cana. Mary approaches Jesus and asks him to do something about the fact that they have run out of wine. Jesus responds: “Woman, how does this concern me?”

Women in Jewish culture at the time were viewed as property and as unreliable witnesses. Men addressing women as “woman” was common, especially if a woman vexed a man — as seems to be the case here. Mary’s confidence in Jesus (“Do whatever he tells you”) should be read as an “eye-roll,” and it guilts Jesus into performing a miracle at his mother’s request.

While this was a somewhat derogatory term to call his mother, it was a common experience for men to refer to women in this way.